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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Unexpected Organizers for your home

I saw these unexpected organizers from Right@Home and thought I would pass them on. Never know when they might spur an awesome idea!

*An acrylic makeup organizer is a great way for the junior Picassos in your household to organize their art supplies. Damp paintbrushes stay neat in dividers meant for lipsticks, and the other small compartments can keep crayons, chalk and watercolor sets nice and neat.

* Foldout fishing tackle boxes make great jewelry boxes or storage boxes for crafts projects. Art students and makeup artists have relied on them for years for easy accessibility to their brushes and supplies.

* Hangers with bars meant for hanging several pairs of pants are great for keeping your winter scarves and shawls visible and wrinkle-free in your coat closet. Use the multiple-skirt hangers with clips to hang your silk scarves. Or loop scarves over the crossbar of a wooden hanger—the result may be attractive enough to display!

* Tiered hanging wire baskets (intended for storing fruits and vegetables) have another use in your kids’ rooms. Use them to organize toys or stuffed animals or in the closet for socks, belts and underwear.

* Styrofoam egg cartons work great for storing extra golf balls. Just don’t get confused and put them in the refrigerator!)

* Cassette tapes may be practically obsolete but their plastic cases are still good. In fact, they’re ideal for keeping headphone cords for your cell phone or MP3 players safe and tangle-free.

* Old album covers are perfect for storing 8-by-10 photos (like class photos), certificates or your children’s artwork—items you want to keep, just not keep on display. Slip your more valuable documents and photos between two sheets of archival quality acid-free paper first.

* Lucite recipe boxes are just the right size for storing and displaying photographs. You can even open the box and choose to spotlight a favorite photo in the recipe holder.

* Canvas shoe bags designed to hang on the back of a closet door are ideal for storing mittens and knit hats in the front hall or mudroom.

Plastic hanging shoe bags are also great organizers for your kitchen. Hang one inside your pantry door for all those small kitchen items—from corkscrews and tea strainers to corn-on-the-cob holders and measuring spoons. They’re just the right size for cake decorating tools too!

* Silver flatware chests lined with tarnish-resistant fabric are great for organizing and storing your silver jewelry. They’re usually attractive enough to display and most have dividers that can be used for necklaces, bracelets, and rings. Look for these handsome boxes at garage sales and online auctions.

* Little metal candy tins make terrific emergency mini-sewing kits. Fill them with needles, spare buttons, hooks-and-eyes, snaps and a few yards of white and black thread wrapped around a small piece of cardboard. Toss one in your handbag and another in your office desk drawer.

* Empty Saran paper rolls are stronger than paper-towel rolls and can take on a second life as portable storage. Ball up empty plastic grocery bags and stuff them into a roll. Then toss a full roll of bags into your glove compartment, beach bag or gym bag so you’ll have a supply of bags whenever you need them.

Feel free to stick any other ideas on here! We all love a little organizing!

2 comments:

Love the ideas! My mom got me into using the over the door shoe organizers for Art Supplies. It has been amazing organization in my kids nursery. My friends hubby gave her a tackle box (which she requested) for her jewelry for Christmas and 've been wanting one ever since. I just forgte every time I go to the store. The craft stores have them but they are super expensive - I think tackle boxes are probably cheaper. I LOVE your idea about the saran warp /bag holders! That is a fab idea! I have an entire reusable shopping bag stuffed crazy full with the plastic disposable ones. How ironic is that?